Dozens of supporting briefs in gay marriage cases

A coalition led by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops argued unions between a man and a woman are best for children, families and society.

A group that included Episcopal, Unitarian and Methodist organizations and a group called Mormons for Equality argued for gay marriage, saying that “American religious panorama embraces a multitude of theological perspectives on lesbian and gay people and same-sex relationships.”

Nearly all of the briefs supporting gay marriage came from organizations or carefully grouped coalitions. That’s common for gay marriage supporters, who try to coordinate to avoid redundancy, NeJaime said.

Backers of the bans coordinate too, NeJaime said, but there are also usually a handful of unaffiliated people who file briefs. That was the case again with several arguments coming from regular people who just wanted to add their opinions.

Duane Morley Cox, a 54-year-old Mormon from a Salt Lake City suburb, sent in a 74-page brief citing passages from the Bible to make his case for upholding the ban.

“God’s plan is for man to marry a woman to create offspring (which same-sex couples cannot do), and be married for time and eternity,” Cox wrote.